Nissan cuts 9,000 jobs and goes into ’emergency’ mode

Nissan is in full-scale emergency mode to save itself: the automaker is cutting 9,000 jobs, slashing production capacity, and selling off its stake in Mitsubishi Motors. The CEO is also reducing his own salary by half.

CEO Makoto Uchida – who took the job amid the epic Carlos Ghosn disaster – today unveiled a “sweeping” reform plan after announcing the company had fallen to a net loss in the latest quarter, Reuters reports.

Uchida “also downgraded the full-year sales and operating profit outlooks and rescinded an earlier target for net income,” the report said, adding that he said it was too soon to provide an accurate forecast.  

The reform package will include shuffling around some executives, such as giving Nissan chairman Guillaume Cartier, who oversees Europe, Africa, the Middle East, India, and Oceania, a promotion as the newly created chief performance officer.

Also, Uchida said he would take a 50% pay cut starting this month to help out. (A Google search showed that it looks like he makes roughly 657 million yen, or about $4.30 million, a year.) Its global headcount of 133,580 staff will see a massive reduction of 9,000 workers.

The new reform looks to save the company $3 billion.

“The question is how to do it fast and adapt to reality,” Uchida said at a news conference. “We cannot deny the fact that our sales plan was overstretched given the rapid changes in markets.”

Uchida is looking to cut global capacity by 20% to bring its production capacity worldwide to 5 million units. The automaker has 30 new or updated products in the lineup, and while it doesn’t plan to cancel them, it will likely push back launch dates depending on market needs.

Of course, a major issue with Nissan is that its EVs are just sort of bland: all it has on offer is the Ariya and the Leaf, neither of which are hot sellers in the US. Nissan says it will continue to offer bidirectional, vehicle-to-grid technology on newly launched EVs starting in 2026, joining alliance partner Renault in bundling the technology.

Nissan is also selling off nearly a third of its 34% stake in Mitsubishi, freeing up an additional $482.7 million. Back in the Ghosn days, Nissan took a controlling 34% stake in Mitsubishi, but even after the sale, Nissan said it should remain Mitsubishi’s largest shareholder. Its alliance with Renault has committed around $5.2 billion into its EV and battery development programs.

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